the whole world... question

[lizzybeth]

Something I was wondering about... I remember reading in the gospels about how Jesus was picking up many followers, and I believe it was the pharasis that remarked that they couldn't do anything about it, because 'the world' was going after him.

Now, it couldn't have literally been the world... it was just in that town that they currently resided in. I've come to see it as being symbolic, becuase the pharasis saw so many people flocking to him, so they couldn't go and take him out at that time.

[rosered]

  Thats how I see it too  :icon_flower:
  and  Jesus witness is the Spirit of Prophecy , this part as well as all being fulfilled
as its written in the Book / Bible

[WhiteWings]

Translations and meaning of words....
In the OT it's clear world very often just means land/country (plagues of Egypt)
NT is more difficult. So pick and chose. I think the ones I marked blue fit best.

2889 ko,smoj kosmos {kos'-mos}
Meaning:  1) an apt and harmonious arrangement or constitution, order, government 2) ornament, decoration, adornment, i.e. the arrangement of the stars, 'the heavenly hosts', as the ornament of the heavens. 1 Pet. 3:3 3) the world, the universe 4) the circle of the earth, the earth 5) the inhabitants of the earth, men, the human race 6) the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ 7) world affairs, the aggregate of things earthly 7a) the whole circle of earthly goods, endowments riches, advantages, pleasures, etc, which although hollow and frail and fleeting, stir desire, seduce from God and are obstacles to the cause of Christ 8) any aggregate or general collection of particulars of any sort 8a) the Gentiles as contrasted to the Jews

[lizzybeth]

Do we have trouble then translating 'world' to mean the entire world if it can mean different things? eg: Jesus saved the world.

[legoman]

Hi lizzy,

In general, when dealing with 'global' words like "all" and "whole world", the rules of logic dictate that these terms do really mean "all" and "whole world", that is UNLESS it is not possible due to context.

For example:

I say "I'm going to travel the whole world".  Do you understand that to mean I am literally going to visit every single physical location in the world?  No of course not, because that would be an impossibility.  I am a finite person with limited abilites.  In this case it is merely a figure of speech, commonly meaning I will travel to various places around the world.

Now, suppose I say "God can see the whole world".  Do you see how your understanding of the phrase "whole world" immediately changes?  For there is no reason that God cannot literally see the whole world, so that is how it MUST be understood.  If I had meant a smaller subsection of the world (that God can see), I would have had to specify that directly, because there is no way to determine that otherwise.

The default is the global "all/whole" meaning unless context limits it to something less.

So using that same method of examining context, we can easily see there is no reason Jesus or God is limited in saving the whole world, so it MUST have that meaning.  Otherwise the rules of language and logic break down and words can mean anything you want to, and then no one can communicate because no one understands what everyone else is talking about.

Hope that made sense.

[lizzybeth]

Yes it did. Thanks.  :bigGrin:

[legoman]

Yes it did. Thanks.  :bigGrin:

Ok great!

Another thing to watch out for is people will try to use the context to limit "all" or "world", when there is no reason to limit those words.  Remember, it must mean what it says UNLESS it cannot due to context.

For example:
I say "I'm going to Bob's house and I've invited everyone".  Immediately you realize that I don't mean everyone in the whole world.  I probably mean all my friends, or all the people we usually hang out with.  To be precise, this statement is a little ambiguous.

1 Tim 2:1-4 is where this is commonly applied in error.  I will paraphrase 1 Tim 2:1-4:

"We are to pray for all men; kings and those in authority, and live in peace with them; for this is good and acceptable to God who desires and wills all men to be saved."

Now people will claim that the "all men" here is not really all, because it spoke of "Kings", which is a "class" of man.  Therefore they assume "all men" is only "all sorts of men".  Essentially they claim God only wants to save all sorts of men, some of each class.

But again we must look at the rules of logic and language.  All means all UNLESS it CANNOT.  Is there any reason that God cannot literally will and desire to save all men?  No of course not, because God is not limited.  Therefore it really does mean God wants to save all men.

Do you see how language and communication breaks down when you can change the meaning of a word to whatever you want?  "All" now means "some", "Whole world" only means "part of the world", "judgment" now means "eternal torture", etc. 

Essentially you can twist things however you want by claiming CONTEXT.  But there is a right way and a wrong way to apply context.

Cheers...

[Tony N]

At that point in time there were so many flocking to Jesus to be healed and hear Him that it **seemed** as if the whole world were going to Him.

[legoman]

At that point in time there were so many flocking to Jesus to be healed and hear Him that it **seemed** as if the whole world were going to Him.

Yes.  A figure of speech.  Not the literal "whole world".  Correct reading of context will understand that.